The Refuge of Fate

Chapter 66 - Goodbye (2)

“Asher!” Pier grinned when he saw the Crown Prince appear right in front of him. The young master could feel his heart pound as his eyes grazed the young man’s frame.

Oh how beautiful he is. The way Asher’s red hair was brilliantly shining under the unending streams of sunlight, the way his well-trained body was emphasized perfectly with the suit he wore, and the way his deep mysterious eyes that had strains of black and red colors mixing together all made Pier weak to his knees.

“Pier,” the latter responded and as they did not waste a single second before embracing each other.

Pier felt secure. He felt relief flooding his body when he knew that it was Asher whom he was clinging onto. He could not explain the wonderful feeling that circulated his system but all he knew is it was pleasant.
It felt euphoric yet blissful.

“I missed you,” he whispered as he buried his face in Asher’s chest. He could not ignore the tingling sensation that he felt the moment his nose captured the scent Asher’s body held.

“I missed you too,” Asher responded and instead of jumping in glee, Pier kept silent. He just laid there listening to the heartbeat of the young man who had come to visit him in their dreams.

Asher could see it, Pier was smiling.

“Let’s go meet the others outside,” he suggested and Pier nodded before removing himself from embracing Asher. “Alright.”

The young master watched as Asher fixed his coat and straighten his posture while walking towards the door of the room where once they would open it, the perfect story would continue.

Pier continued smiling.

He just did.

---

“Greetings, Headmaster Leandro and Headmistress Celeste,” Asher spoke before politely lowering his head slightly to show respect towards the heads of the House of Masters.

Leandro and Celeste smiled at the display made by the Crown Prince.

There wasn’t really any need for Asher to bow considering he was the Crown Prince of the kingdom they were living at but they felt grateful with the respect the young man was showing towards them. They tried reprimanding Asher about such thing for so many times already but the Crown Prince was persistent in giving respect to the parents of his lover that in the end, they just let him be.

“Greetings, father, mother,” Pier did the same and he courteously bowed which made Celeste’s and Leandro’s smile wider.

Asher and Pier stood side by side and they almost cooed at how good the two looked together. It wasn’t an exaggeration to say that one could see Asher as the brilliant sun of the kingdom while Pier can become the moon who replaces the sun as it rests.

“Have you two had lunch? Come and join us. We were simply taking a break from our work as well. It would be nice if we can take this opportunity to gather,” Celeste offered and the two young men looked at each other before smiling.

“Of course-”

“I think it would be much better if we also invite Silas, Headmistress.”

Pier’s head quickly turned back to Asher and he had a questioning look on his face.

Why?

He wanted to ask.

Why does Asher want to invite Silas who clearly wasn’t here in the first place?

‘I...’ the young master pondered over the idea for a second before lowering his head and clenching his hands secretly that Asher, Celeste, and Leandro weren’t able to notice it.

‘What was I thinking?’ he inquired himself mentally.

Of course, it was normal. It was completely normal.

Silas was his brother. Silas was the prodigy of magic whom Asher would be reliant to in the future. Silas was the person who, despite not being the headmaster in the future, will be the sword and shield of the empire.
It was natural for Asher to look for the person.

‘You’re starting to overthink things again, Pier,’ he scolded himself and shook the unpleasant thoughts away. Why was he having all of these dilemmas in his head when in the first place, this was the perfect world?
Even though these are all dreams, it was the place where everything was just right.

Pier took a deep breath and calmed himself down. He was a better person than he used to be.
There was absolutely no reason for him to cause a scene when all Asher did was ask to invite Silas for lunch. It was his brother for goddamn’s sake!

“Good idea, Asher!” Celeste squealed as she immediately manifested her spell and from her feet appeared a giant snowflake that engulfed almost the entire garden. Soon, a swirling portal was created in front of them and something in the middle of the swirling magic clouds appeared.

It was a reflection of someone whose back was facing them.

Leandro and Celeste clapped their hands in joy when they immediately recognized whose back it was.

“Look, Leandro! It’s my other son! It’s Silas!” She yelled and grabbed the headmaster’s collar and shook him like a ragdoll many times in excitement. Leandro could only chuckle as he allowed himself to be swayed back and forth.

Silas was standing on top of what seemed like a mountain and the sun looked like it was setting in the horizon. A breeze passed by the prodigy which made the cape he wore flutter along the wind which added to the majestic effect he was giving off.

“My Silas is so cool! Kyaah!” Celeste squealed again as she cannot contain her absolute joy in seeing the display of Silas. “Darling, I know, you don’t have to shake me like tha-AH!” Leandro screamed when Celeste violently shook his collar again.

The four continued to watch Silas for a few more seconds before Pier started to notice something odd with the view.

“Are those... blood stains?” He asked and the two heads as well as Asher who was chuckling at Celeste and Leandro’s antics all looked at the part he was pertaining to.

And indeed, once they had a better view of the unnoticeable parts, everything went silent.

It wasn’t just the breathtaking view of the sun setting in the horizon.

It wasn’t just the way he looked astonishingly appealing as he stood on top of the hill.

There was blood.

Blood stains were scattered all across his cape and some even reached his face. His boots were stained dark red with the crimson liquid and his eyes were almost lifeless.

“Oh...” Celeste mumbled when she saw the entirety of the view.

Even Leandro was speechless.

“He’s probably at the Mir Mountains, isn’t he?” the headmaster asked out of the blue.

“Father! Isn’t the Mir Mountains dangerous?” Pier asked in concern. Everyone knew about the tales that were all encircling around the mysterious territory.

The Mir Mountains is a place home to some of the most terrifying monsters in the continent. Some of the monsters remain unknown yet stories about their great power that could ruin a nation were spreading like wildfire constantly across the kingdoms.

In the end, the Mir Mountains became a place that was banned by any human territories to approach.
Though some merchants were daring enough to take a peek at the dangerous place and take some herbs that they would sell at expensive prices, the general public were advised to steer clear from the towering mountain range.

“Indeed, the Mir Mountains is a dangerous place...” Leandro trailed off.

“But that’s Silas we are talking about.”

Everyone turned their heads to Asher and they all saw the small smile on his lips as he continued watching the reflection provided by Celeste’s spell.

“Correct.” Celeste sighed before chanting something in her head and in an instant, they saw that a snowflake also appeared beneath Silas’ feet in the reflection.

“Oi, what are you doing there, you little brat?!” The three men flinched at Celeste’s annoyed voice.

It was amusing how quick she was in changing her mood. From the overjoyed mother who was proud of her son, she then shifted into a brooding hen who was about to peck her annoying chick.

Silas turned his head and Celeste audibly gasped when she saw that her son’s entire face was covered in blood splatter. Since they only saw a part of his face earlier, they thought that would be it.

“Mother?”

“... YOU BETTER HURRY UP AND RETURN HERE, MISTER! WHAT DID I TELL YOU ABOUT GOING TO DANGEROUS PLACES LIKE THAT ALONE?!” Celeste’s banter started to ring out in the garden and Silas only placed his pinky finger in his ear to drive out his mother’s loud voice.

Meanwhile, Leandro secretly manifested his own magic and just right beside Silas’ other ear, a small light orb appeared and the headmaster’s voice echoed. “Silas, are you okay?”

“DON’T YOU DARE IGNORE ME, SILAS GREGORY! LISTEN TO YOUR MOTHER!”

“Yes, father. I am all right,” Silas responded in a whisper-like manner so Celeste wouldn’t notice. The two men started to converse while letting the headmistress rant and rant until both Asher and Pier’s ears were about to fall.

“You should return here now before your mother becomes angrier than she is right now. Take a quick bath at the mansion and transport yourself here in the garden,” Leandro instructed which Silas responded to with a nod of his head.

“AND WHAT?! WHO WOULD HELP YOU THERE IF WE AREN’T NOTIFIED BY YOUR WHEREABOUTS?! DO YOU KNOW MANY PEOPLE ARE DYING BECAUSE THEY ARE CARELESS?!”

“I’m going home now, mother. I’ll meet you at lunch,” Silas really wasn’t listening to Celeste.
---
Everyone was busy calming down the distressed headmistress. The servants, the knights, Leandro, Pier, and Asher were all walking on thin ice around her as they waited for Silas’ arrival.

“I SWEAR TO GOD IF THAT YOUNG MAN EVER GETS AN UNCURABLE SCRATCH ON HIS FACE-”

Her rant was interrupted when a combination of a golden magic circle and a bluish snowflake appeared on the ground. Soon, a man's figure formed.

“I’m home.”

“SILAS GREGORY!” Celeste yelled with her hands on her hips and a frown was plastered on her face.

“Yes, mother.”

“WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN?!”

“The Mir Mountains, mother.”

“WHY? HAVEN’T I TOLD YOU NOT TO GO ANYWHERE DANGEROUS WITHOUT EITHER ME OR YOUR FATHER-”
However, Celeste wasn’t even able to finish her speech when Silas interrupted.

“The guest requested me.”

Everyone raised their eyebrow at the statement and they were demanding for explanations from the young noble.

“He said there would be more of his people in the Mir Mountains so I went to save them.” Silas unbuttoned his new coat and gave it to the butler standing beside him.

“R-Really?” Celeste stuttered in which the young prodigy simply nodded his head in response. The anger and annoyance that were boiling in her head started to disappear like smoke in the wind.

“Wow... I didn’t know you had that in you, Silas...” Even Leandro was astonished with the idea of Silas helping a stranger who asked for his help.

Silas’ pride was higher than the skies and he would not take any command unless it was beneficial for him.
“I helped him. He looked desperate.”

The headmaster and headmistress eventually started asking Silas questions about the request the guest had made and what he did in the Mir Mountains while Pier and Asher looked at each other immediately knowing what the other was thinking.

Right. In this world, everything was perfect.

Celeste and Leandro are alive and there were no problems.

If this happened in the real world, Silas and Fenrir could’ve never met each other because of the alterations of the events which made them meet each other.

However, in this world, despite the entire storyline changing, they were still able to meet each other in one way or another. It was amazing in a sense that fate was working out perfectly for each and every character involved in this story.

“Wow...” Pier whispered as he observed his brother who was now being smothered with questions by their parents.

Fate is unruly, fate is unkind. It may bring the best in some but it may also bring the worst.

Fate is a mysterious thing that leads one to a certain path and towards a predetermined refuge.

But who knew fate also works in baffling ways like this?

“Can you tell me about the monsters you saw in the Mir Mountains?” the young master was pulled out of his thoughts when he heard Asher asked his brother.

“Well... I can’t tell you all of the details but there were a few strong monsters that I encountered.”

“Really? Wow...”

“Yes. There were even bone monsters that I couldn’t kill.”

Something inside the young master’s heart clenched when he saw Asher’s expression while conversing with his brother.

The Crown Prince’s eyes were literally sparkling as he listened to the stories Silas was telling.

‘He never looked at me like that...’ a thought crossed his head.

‘Asher...’